I'm Your Angel
by ChoCedric
Summary: His father howled. His mother held his hand tenderly as though love could bring him back. Harry wept. Cho screamed. His housemates and friends held each other and cried or stared at his body in numb disbelief. As they united in grief, little did they know that he was looking on, wishing they knew that he wasn't far away. And he never would be.


Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

I'm Your Angel

By: ChoCedric

When the green light of the Killing Curse had come speeding towards him, Cedric Diggory couldn't deny that he had been absolutely terrified. Maybe it was cowardly, but at that moment, he didn't care. He was only seventeen, and he wasn't ready to die. He had so many goals, so many dreams he wanted to achieve. And now he'd never get to live them.

As soon as his soul had been ripped from his body, he'd felt an incredible sensation of flying. He'd flown for what felt like an eternity until he'd heard a sweet voice calling his name. At that point, he'd finally stopped flying and was caught up in an embrace by someone he thought he wouldn't see again in decades. He'd been devastated when at eleven years old, she had been lost to him. It was his grandmother, his mother's mother.

She'd then proceeded to hold him while he sobbed for the life he could have had, wept for the knowledge that he had left so many loved ones behind. How would they react to seeing his body, cold and limp, the look of fear frozen on his face as his lifeless gray eyes stared into nothingness? He knew he looked like that, because his grandmother had shown him a fence where he could see what was going on in the living world. And no experience could compare to seeing his own corpse.

He'd then watched as Harry, someone he had misjudged completely at the beginning of this year, witnessed the return of the most evil wizard ever known. God, Cedric had thought so low of him, assuming he'd entered his own name in the Triwizard Tournament. It was true that most of his resentment towards Harry was because of his father. Every time he turned around, Amos Diggory was pressuring his son to do better, to be his perfect boy. And Harry Potter getting into the tournament was yet another reason for Amos to start heckling him.

But he knew by the time of the first task that Harry hadn't chosen this at all. From that point onward, Cedric wanted to do nothing but protect him. It wasn't fair that he'd been forced into the tournament.

But now he knew why that had happened, didn't he? He was forced in so that evil could flourish. Gazing at the boy now, he noticed the haunted look in his eyes and wished with all he had that he wasn't the reason for it. He knew he didn't know the boy well, but from what he'd learned about him, he was quick to land blame on himself. And Cedric knew he'd blame himself for his death. But it was no one's fault but Voldemort and the coward of a man who called himself Wormtail. Harry was totally innocent in all this. He knew that his loved ones might go through a phase of blaming Harry, because Cedric had been standing beside him at completely the wrong time. But he hoped they would come to understand that the young Gryffindor would have done anything to prevent this tragedy.

He continued to watch the confrontation between the boy and Voldemort, and as the phenomenon of Priori Incantatem began to happen, he suddenly felt an extremely odd feeling, starting from his head and going all the way down to his toes. The next thing he knew, the fence he was peering through to see the mortal world was gone, and he was standing again in the graveyard. He could still see his corpse not far from where he stood, so he knew he hadn't miraculously returned to life. But for these few moments, he could communicate with Harry, tell him to stay strong. He saw, with a burst of surprise, several other people standing beside him. One of them was Bertha Jorkins; he recognized her picture from the Daly Prophet. One of them was an old man he did not know. But the two people standing closest to him, he would know anywhere, because their pictures were featured in the paper every Halloween. They were Harry's parents, Lily and James Potter.

Together, they had tried their best to give Harry support as he fought a battle of wills with Voldemort. Cedric had been so proud of him in those moments; he had fought, and he had won. Cedric had asked him to take his body back to his parents, to all his loved ones, and Harry had fought tooth and nail to do just that. He dodged curses from Death Eaters as he sprinted towards the corpse and the Portkey. Moments later, they were gone.

For several long moments, Cedric, the old man, Bertha, and Lily and James stared at each other. Then Lily reached out her hand to Cedric and said, "I'm sorry this had to happen to you, sweetheart. You didn't deserve it."

Cedric had smiled softly back at her as he saw his companions begin to fade. The fence materialized in front of him again, and his grandmother held out her arms. "Good boy," she said softly. "You helped that young lad in his time of need. I'm proud of you."

Cedric smiled at her, then turned his head to look over the fence. And it was then that dread filled his heart, because he could see Hogwarts. Harry had collapsed on the grass sobbing,, holding Cedric's body to him like it was the only thing left in his world. Cedric's grandmother grasped his hand tightly, knowing that the time was now, the time had come for Cedric to see all the reactions to his passing by his loved ones.

Cedric heard screams erupting from the Quidditch Pitch. Running footsteps followed. The first to reach him and Harry were Professor Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge. Fudge looked at the young champion's frozen, fearful face, stared into his wide-open eyes, and gasped. "My God, Dumbledore!" he cried. "He's dead! Diggory's dead!"

And the news was then passed from person to person, until the cries of "He's dead! He's dead! He's dead!" echoed around the pitch. "Cedric Diggory! Dead!" Harry was still clinging to him, refusing to let go even though Dumbledore was trying to loosen his grip.

And then Cedric heard a scream, the most heartbreaking and horrific scream. He knew whose voice that was, too. That scream sent sadness and love and heartbreak up his throat. That scream belonged to the woman he loved, Cho Chang. She sounded like she'd just had her heart ripped straight out of her chest.

Alastor Moody then came stumping along, and with gentle words, he coaxed Harry away and led him from the scene. As this was happening, Cedric saw Cho violently pushing people out of her way as she ran, ran, ran to his side. The look on her face was one of anguish and desperation. When she reached him, she collapsed on top of him, staring into his lifeless eyes. "No!" Her shriek was hysterical. "Cedric! Wake up! Please, wake up Cedric! Please look at me and tell me what's wrong!" Raising her wand in her shaking hand, she howled, "Enervate! Enervate! Enervate!"

But of course, nothing happened. Looking on, Cedric would have given anything to take her into his arms and hold her, wipe those tears away, let her know he was okay. But he couldn't do any of that., and it broke him. He cursed Voldemort and Wormtail violently – damn, this was the worst timing in her life for something like this to happen. She was already going through so much what with her parents fighting all the time, her constantly worrying that they might separate. Now he had been taken from her too. Life was so, so unfair.

And then, he heard another bloodcurdling howl, another completely grief-stricken voice. And it told him all he needed to know about his father. Despite the fact he had always nagged his son to be perfect, the love he held in his heart for his boy was unparalleled; he'd just had trouble showing it. But now was the moment of truth as three words were shrieked into the night.

"THAT'S MY SON!"

And now his parents had collapsed beside their fallen boy, Amos screeching like a wild animal and Eileen crying softly, wishing she could stroke the fear off her son's face, bring life back into those blank gray eyes. Cedric's grandmother continued to hold him tightly as he buried his face in her robes. This was torture, not being able to let them know he was just a breath away.

He continued to watch as Professor Sprout tried to coax a still screaming and sobbing Cho to leave Cedric's side, that there was nothing she could do for him. When she refused, Sprout asked Roger Davies to take her away from all this. Cedric's heart ached as Roger, after much of a fight from her, eventually carried a hysterical Cho away from the scene of devastation. Eileen Diggory, still crying and unable to watch the pain her husband was in, Stunned him. Cedric could see what she was thinking; unconsciousness would be better than this agony, at least for a little while. Still looking all around him, Cedric saw others, mainly his housemates, holding each other and crying or staring at his body in numb disbelief.

And it was then that Cedric truly realized how much he meant to so many people. In all his seventeen years, he'd tried his best to be kind, to be honest, to listen when someone needed to talk. He'd somehow become the leader of Hufflepuff, and many had looked up to him. But it wasn't until now that he realized how much he had truly been loved.

As he watched professors trying to herd devastated and stricken students back inside Hogwarts, Cedric looked at his grandmother and said in a small, fearful voice, "Are they going to be okay?"

"Yes, darling. They're going to be okay. All of them." She said reassuringly, stroking his hair lovingly. "You're their angel now, Cedric. I know you'll be watching over them."

"Yes," Cedric answered, nodding with fervent agreement as he wiped the last tears from his gray eyes. "I will."


End file.
